


Moments Between

by flashforeward



Category: Veritas: The Quest
Genre: Dreams, Friendship, Gen, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 23:59:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18648781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashforeward/pseuds/flashforeward
Summary: Nikko and Cal have a moment of rest.





	Moments Between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tommygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommygirl/gifts).



Sometimes, when he dreams, he’s with his mother. Wherever she is. Because the one thing that’s for certain is that she _isn’t_ dead. A hundred voices chorus otherwise, but he knows it’s true. She didn’t die but was taken somewhere. And he wishes - has wished a lot, over the years - that he’d been taken with her.

 

And sometimes, when he dreams, he finds he was.

 

He doesn’t know where _there_ is. There’s nothing to their surroundings, just vast whiteness that stretches on forever. But it doesn’t matter _where_ they are, not to him, not as long as he’s sitting with his mother.

 

He’s a kid again, the age he was when she disappeared. They both look exactly the same, like no time has passed. Like they’re in that cave and she’s about to examine the wall, leaving Nikko behind. Making sure Nikko is _safe_.

 

“I want to go with you,” he says again.

 

She smiles sadly and cups his cheeks in her hands, looks into his eyes. “What’s the most important part of my job?” she asks.

 

“I was safe with you.”

 

“You’re safe with your father.”

 

She presses a kiss to his forehead and he wakes with a gasp.

 

“You all right?” Cal asks. He’s sitting up in his motel bed, books, papers, and empty chip bags strewn around him.

 

“Fine,” Nikko lies, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He glances at the clock. 4 A.M. “Have you slept?”

 

Cal shakes his head, not looking up from whatever he’s reading. “Not going to,” he says. “Have to get this done.”

 

The way he’s working, you’d think it was a Thesis or Dissertation, but Nikko knows it’s even more important than any of that. “Have you found anything new?” he asks. He reaches out for the bottle of water by his bed and it jumps into his hand. He cringes and looks away as Cal glances at him.

 

He doesn’t want to feel like anymore of a specimen than he already does.

 

He almost hadn’t told anyone, back when it first started. It was weird enough uncovering the mystical, discovering how much more there was to myth and legend than people thought, he didn’t want to _be_ what they were studying. Besides, he reasoned, it probably wasn’t anything. A fluke of some sort. But it had kept happening. New abilities kept manifesting and he realized he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret forever.

 

And he wanted answers just as much as he knew the rest of the team would.

 

So he’d told his father. A more awkward conversation than the half-hearted birds and the bees talk Solomon had given him one summer, but also one full of hope and possibility.

 

Because what could have caused this save that moment in the cave when Hayley disappeared?

 

So now, as they retrace his mother’s footsteps in search of clues to what happened to her, they’re also looking for answers to what happened to him.

 

What’s _happening_ to him.

 

He takes a sip of water, trying to forget the feel of pulling it through the air into his hand, then sets it aside and flicks his eyes up to meet Cal’s.

 

He hates the way they study him now. The way Cal’s eyes seem to be searching for some outward evidence of the power pulsing through him.

 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Cal asks again instead of answering Nikko’s question, which means he hasn’t found anything new. Either that or what he has found isn’t something he wants to share with Nikko.

 

That’s another reason Nikko was hesitant to tell anyone. He doesn’t want to be treated as fragile, not after he’s survived so much.

 

“I’m _fine_ ,” he says again, putting a little more emphasis into the lie. As if that won’t give him away even more. He shoves his blankets aside and slides out of bed, ignoring the concerned look Cal is giving him as he makes his way to the bathroom. If he’s not going to sleep anymore, he may as well take a shower.

 

Try to wash away the dream that’s been coming more frequently.

 

What they don’t know could fill a book, he considers as he stands beneath the spray, eyes closed and head tilted back to let the water wash over his face. They have theory upon theory, but most are unlikely at best and wild guesses at worst. It doesn’t help that they have to do it all on their own. They can’t risk Dorna finding out about him.

 

He shudders at the thought.

 

Vincent’s told him a little of what he can expect if Dorna ever does learn about his powers. Enough to scare him, Vincent had said, but not enough to keep him up at night.

 

Joke’s on him. Nikko’s already up at night.

 

He leaves the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and falls onto his back on the end of Cal’s bed. There’s an unfinished bag of chips by his head and he takes one, closing his eyes at the taste of salt on his tongue. “You really haven’t found anything?” he asks, taking another chip.

 

There’s a rustle of paper and Cal clears his throat. “I’ve found some avenues we could explore,” he says. “I’m looking at a few of the places your mom writes about in her journals, but if there is anything there, it’s not the type of thing that winds up in books.” There’s a thump as he closes one of said books and the bed shifts as he moves to lie down with his head next to Nikko’s. “Hopefully Juliet and Dr. Zond are having better luck.”

 

Nikko nods. “Hopefully,” he says quietly. Juliet and his dad are following a different clue from a different journal. Vincent is in the room next door because Solomon is more worried about Nikko than ever, but Nikko wishes Vincent were with his dad. And not just because he, too, is more worried than ever.

 

He knows his dad thinks he hasn’t noticed, and the only reason he hasn’t said anything is because it’s his dad’s decision when he tells Nikko. When he tells any of them. But he knows it’ll be awhile. The pretense is that Solomon is protecting Nikko, but Nikko has come a long way since blowing up toilets for attention and he won’t begrudge his father happiness. He knows this thing between his dad and Vincent, whatever it is, doesn’t mean Solomon loves or misses Hayley any less. Knows it wasn’t planned.

 

And, to be completely honesty, he’s happy for them.

 

Glad this life of theirs hasn’t stopped them finding some peace together.

 

He turns his head slightly, knocking it against Cal’s.

 

“Ow,” Cal mutters, sounding half asleep.

 

“We’ll figure it out,” Nikko says.

 

Cal doesn’t answer, just gives a grunt of acknowledgment. They lay in silence for a few minutes before Cal’s soft breathing turns to quiet snores. Nikko chuckles and lets his eyes fall closed. He doesn’t expect he’ll sleep, but it’s calming and quiet to lie beside his friend and wait for a new day.


End file.
